Noir

TV (26 eps)
3.506 out of 5 from 7,858 votes
Rank #5,953

Mireille Bouqet has become a reputable assassin working in France. However, all changes after she meets Kirika, a mysterious young girl who knows nothing about her past but possesses killing skills that dwarf hers. Further intrigue unfolds as both characters explore their shadowy past and come to a head with a clandestine organization that seeks to control destiny itself.

my anime:

User Stats

26,472 users are tracking this. to see stats.

If you like this anime, you might like...

Reviews

Galadriel
9.3

Noir Plot: "Mireille Bouqet has become a reputable assassin working in France. However, all changes after she meets Kirika, a mysterious young girl who knows nothing about her past but possesses killing skills that dwarf hers. Further intrigue unfolds as both characters explore their shadowy past and come to a head with a clandestine organization that seeks to control destiny itself." (site synopsis) Story: Noir started as the first project of Bee Train studio, exploring the girls with guns theme, a theme that spawned over 3 adaptations, made by the same studio, with many similarities in all aspects but different presentations. Somehow these projects were clearly overlooked since the projects were executed quite well in many aspects, but I have to agree that the aspect that lacks several stuff is indeed the story development. The show starts with introducing the two main protagonists, both of them being females (infact the 3 adaptations only feature main female leads which creates a shoujo-ai subplot that does not have any important role during the whole show, nothing lesbolicious that’s for sure). Mireille Bouquet is a professional assassin leading a comfortable life, the life of a lone wolf, taking different tasks from different clients and making a living over these issues. Her history is covered in mystery since her parents were murdered without a certain reason and it seems that part of her memory is also in fog, she can’t remember several things about her past. That is until she meets a girl named Kirika Yumura, a high-school girl that contacted Mireille with a strange message. Later Mireille receives the task of murdering Kirika however while she attempts to do so, she gets involved in another battle that was targeting this time both of them. Mireille witnesses a spectaculous yet gory show given by Kirika which had some extraordinary gun skills and absolutely no remorse whenever she killed something, making her the equivalent of a robot out of control with no emotions. After Mireille and Kirika managed to get to know stuff about eachother, they decided to form a team and discover they real identity and to uncover the lost memories. From here on the show gets an episodic aspect, since both heroines get caught into the schemes of an organization called The Soldats, which kept sending assassins to kill both of them, or more like to test them. The partnership between Mireille and Kirika is codenamed Noir (which means black in French) a notorious name in the underworld. From the beginning it was easy to realize that between Mireille and Kirika there is a certain connection even though it is not clearly revealed, but the one thing that both of them reacted to was a strange clock carried by Kirika. The sound that the clock made started to make Mireille to remember certain scenes about her past. Nevertheless a deal was made when the partnership was created, Mireille promised Kirika that she will help her explore her past however when she discovers it, she will have to kill her (quote: "You know what i do to make a living. You know that i cannot let you live." "I understand that." "After you find out who you realy are i will kill you." "I cant wait for that moment." – you really got to be insane to accept such a thing, but to happy too? Lol kinda sick if you ask me). The story of this show proves to be like a chain of experiences for both main leads, building up their strength and their skills for a certain battle. The waves sent by The Soldats had only one purpose, to train and test their skills in combat so that they can be prepared for a certain obstacle. Things start to get even more complicated once a girl named Chloe enters in the picture claiming that the duo Kirika and Mireille created is not the real Noir adding that she herself is a part of Noir too. Well this is all I can say about it, the story is kinda slow-paced developing in slow motion but like they say “slowly but surely” it will reach a culminant point. Usually the works of Bee Train focuses a lot on past issues, presenting characters that lost their memories and also developing a fantasy aspect as well which seems to have some references as well. Animation and Sound: Well we talk about a show produced at the beginning of the third millennium, not a recent one, so of course the animation quality might be a little bit outdated however one cannot deny that the directing and art-style is inferior. Amazingly, a 2001 can pull a spectacular character choreography with cool action sequences and nice use of gun fire, this is how a true assassin show should be like and I have to admit that most of them share the aspects that I mentioned. Soundwise this anime is also amazing, featuring soundtracks created by a very popular Japanese composer called Yuki Kajiura. The opening and ending song themes are not that great but the background songs such as Canta Per Me or Salva Nos who follow the action sequences are very enjoyable. Characters: Well talking about this anime, it has a nice character development, more and more characters show up and reveal their past and also the role that they will play in the future.In terms of characters this anime is way above average. Only three characters play a more important role in this show. Mireille is like a mother figure of the show, possessing both assassin skills but also the skills of a normal woman as well. Kirika on the other hand has better skills when it comes to using guns but she is a social outcast, because other than her assassin nature she pretty much fails in other mundane issues. Cloe, same like Kirika, at the beginning it gave a feeling of emptiness and darkness hidden within her cloak, however a character that has an important role until the end, being something like a catalist of the other two main leads. Overall: Some people may say that this anime is rather confusing and weird in terms of story but i wana mention that stuff get realy simple around the ending, understandable at least.It was very enjoying since i havent seen many animes with this mixture of tags, cant call it a masterpiece but Noir has a place of its own.It has scenes filled with action and turns of events, never a boring moment, and always coming up with more and more surprizing stuff reaching a culminant point in the end.In other words it worths watching. ~Enjoy and Cya Around~

See all reviews

Characters

See all characters

Staff

See all staff

Discussions

Custom lists

See all custom lists